I should know this but It's been a long time.

My buddy has a 2" gate vale that has a small crack In It. It's been In the line for 30 years and would be a real challenge to get It out. It's do able but I was thinking I could remove the gate and leave the valve body In place then weld the crack shut well Braze It. My question Is I have a bunch of silver solder sticks will they work on brass or do I need to go and get some brazing rod? I have the equipment to the job just not sure of the rod type.

Are there any nylon or other components in the valve that might melt?
I'd just use some JB Weld or Marine-Tex and call it good. I've used Marine-Tex on cracked engine blocks and it has held for years.

Not sure what's In the valve body. It's old so It may not have any nylon seats. We are running about 40 lbs of pressure on that valve.

refrigeration braze would be better I think.

ttt

I never thought of just soldering the crack. That's going to be my first try.
A little flux and some 95/5 and I should be good to go.

I'd use that stuff in the spray can. Works really well on TV!

You mean flex seal. LOL

My buddy tried some of that flex seal tape. IT held for awhile but then started leaking. The stuff does hold I had to burn It off with a torch to remove It.

Brass or phosphor bronze would be a better bet to brass, but the silver would work as well, make sure to clean the outside real well, and check insides with a flashlight for any seals.

I like to use the brass that already has the flux on it, if you done it before you should not have any trouble.

Most do because they don't know when the brass is hot enough to accept the solder or brazing rod.

Make sure ya have a fire watch if your in a confined area.

Thanks Grit. I'm outside at the well head so that's not a problem.

its going to be tough to get that valve hot enough to get silver solder to flow 95/5 will work if you can keep from scorching the flux dirtying up the brass they make a new liquid flux that tins as soon as its hot enough to accept soft solider sil phos stick silver solder the brass will almost have to be red to get it to flow into a crack.

My vote is for flux coated braze as well but would groove out the crack first. Good luck on how ever decide to tackle it. 2" valve would probably try a #1 tip and 3/32 pre flux braze rod.

Hey Gary, I'll bring you some coated brazing rods if you want to go that way. Also have different sized torch tips,if needed. Off this weekend. Bob

Thanks Bob. Your not fishing this weekend?

It's done.
I used my wire brush on the drill cleaned it up, ground out the crack a bit. Peened the crack shut. It wasn't much of a crack to begin with. I used 95/5 solder and It worked like a charm. I kept using the flux brush to move the solder to fill the void. Let It cool turned on the water good to go.

Thanks guys.

Why not just cut the valve out and replace it?

Well I could have done that but It would have become a 4 hour job a new valve and several new fittings. Then I would have had to score the nipples and drive them out of the fittings. This fix only took about 20 min.
Those old timers never heard of using unions when doing any piping. LOL